Bitchfield Tower or West Bitchfield Tower is a 15th-century medieval

pele tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...

near

Belsay Belsay is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England. The village is about 5 miles from Ponteland on the A696, which links the village with Newcastle upon Tyne and Jedburgh. The population of the civil parish was 436 at the 2001 censu ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Keys to the Past
The three storied

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

ed tower was built in the 15th century by the Middleton family who sold it to the Harbottles in 1502.''A History of Northumberland, Volume XII'' Miss MH Dodds (1926) pp346 and 349 Marjorie Harbottle the heiress to the Harbottle estate, married Sir John Fenwick of Fenwick Tower and in 1529 they conveyed the property to their second son Roger Fenwick. In 1622 Robert Fenwick built a new manor house adjoining the tower: a datestone inscribed 'RF 1622 JF' is incorporated into the building The Fenwicks sold the estate in 1630 to Edward Grey, from whom it was sequestered in 1646. In 1680 it was acquired by Sir James Clavering and in 1802 the Claverings sold to

Sir Charles Monck Sir Charles Miles Lambert Monck, 6th Baronet (7 April 1779 – 20 July 1867) succeeded to the Baronetcy of Belsay Castle on the death of his father in 1795. Born with the surname Middleton, he adopted the surname of his maternal grandfather Laure ...

. It was in a state of ruin by 1930 but has since been restored. The east wing was added by Caroë and

Lord Gort Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, (10 July 1886 – 31 March 1946) was a senior British Army officer. As a young officer during the First World War, he was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his acti ...

in 1935. The tower was listed since August 27th, 1952.

References

Houses completed in the 15th century Towers completed in the 15th century Peel towers in Northumberland Grade I listed buildings in Northumberland Belsay {{Northumberland-struct-stub